Drivers hold more than phones in hands

What’s gotten into our area drivers? Have you taken a look at the other drivers cruising around town? It’s downright scary. Just the other day, I saw a girl driving with her left leg up on the dash, eating pizza with her left hand and maneuvering the steering wheel with her right hand. If you think that’s irresponsible, get on the highway in the wee hours of the morning in the midst of drivers going to work. It’s not surprising to see people speeding along while reading the newspaper, brushing their teeth, operating their laptop computers, putting on makeup or shaving.

If the aforementioned activities aren’t enough to make you consider having on hand a flask (just kidding), now we have the cell phone revolution. I’m all for the advancement of technology, but the use of cell phones while driving is just plain out of control. It’s been documented by the New England Journal of Medicine that an automobile accident was four times as likely to happen when the driver was using a cell phone.

I am one of the above statistics. Recently, I was in a three car crash at Sullivan Road and Sprague Avenue. The last thing that I remember before being knocked unconscious was seeing the driver in front of me with a cell phone up to his left ear. Upon crossing Sprague, he decided to take a left turn, jamming on his brakes and stopping short. I hit my brakes so I wouldn’t end up having a fender bender only to have the car behind me slam into me. By the time I became conscious, I had been pushed into a pickup truck. The car with the cell phone driver had left the scene.

I was sandwiched between two vehicles, which totaled my car. I ended up with a bloody nose, cracked front tooth and both hands in splints for weeks. The police officer said that had I not been wearing my seat belt, I would have gone through the windshield. Perhaps if the cell phone driver weren’t talking on the phone, he’d have remembered to signal his intentions instead of just slamming on the brakes.

Please don’t think that I am against technology. Cell phones are fine while stuck in traffic or at a red light, or in an emergency. And they can save money on long-distance calls.

There are options for talking on a cell phone while driving, including the use of ear buds with a microphone, voice recognition, one touch calling, speaker phone, etc. But we still have drivers who hold a cell phone while steering with their other hand. I have to wonder, could this be a status symbol of sorts or just plain defiance of what lurks around the next curve?

I realize that there are laws being considered to govern the use of cell phones while driving. I’m also aware that new inventions are making the use of cell phones while driving less hazardous. This isn’t enough. We must realize that we hold more than a cell phone in our hands when we drive. We hold a responsibility toward others.